Spotlight on Literacy set for Kingston-Galloway neighbourhood

Spotlight on Literacy set for Kingston-Galloway neighbourhood

Groups will give away 1,000 new books to promote reading at a March 5 event for residents of Kingston-Galloway and Orton Park.

Spotlight on Literacy: A Community Conversation from 5:30 to 8 p.m. that day at St. Margaret’s Public School on Galloway Road is also meant to get residents and others talking about how to raise literacy levels in the east Scarborough neighbourhoods, which are often abbreviated as KGO.

“A disproportionate number of KGO children and youth have been under-performing their peers across the province,” said event organizers The Learning Partnership, adding in a statement closing this gap will require a collaborative effort from educators, parents, children and the community at large.

The group, which aims to improve literacy by giving parents the skills to teach their children to read, hopes to start a “dialogue” in the community about reading, and connect families to information and resources that can help them do it.

The deadline to register for the forum (by visiting www.readingpartnership.com/events or calling 416-282-7284) and be eligible for child care during the evening is Monday Feb. 25.

A light dinner will be served during the first half-hour.

Other partners in the event are the Toronto Public Library’s Morningside branch, the Scarborough East Ontario Early Years Centre, the Toronto District School Board and Frontier College, which donated the books.